


Rubble

by VampirePaladin



Category: Final Fantasy Type-0
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Past Character Death, Post-Canon, Standard Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 14:05:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4140540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amongst the rubble of Akademeia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rubble

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NightsMistress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightsMistress/gifts).



                Under a pile of rubble there sat a lone tonberry. It was huddled in its black and red uniform, a kitchen knife lying by his side. His lantern sat on the cracked floor at his feet. Its flickering flame was his only light in the dark.

 

                Unlike humans, tonberries could remember their dead. It was for Kurasame’s sake that the tonberry had remained at the school. The cactaur had begged for the tonberry to leave the students to their fates, but it was something that the tonberry just couldn’t do. The students at Akademeia mattered to Kurasame and Kurasame mattered to the tonberry.

 

                When the sky turned red, the faculty fled and the abominations began to appear, the tonberry walked into battle, fully preparing to die. With lantern and knife in hand and magic at his command he fought. He didn’t save many, but he did save a few. These abominations were far beyond any natural creature. When one tossed him into a wall and destroyed it with magic the tonberry thought he was going to die right then and there.

 

                Now, buried under the remnants of the wall, the tonberry waited for a slow death of starvation or suffocation. Then his soul would pass through Etro’s Gates and he would see everyone again.

 

                The rubble began to shift and move. He could hear the crashes as pieces of rubble hit the floor. The tonberry grabbed his knife. It wouldn’t do all that much good, but it felt right to have it in hand. He didn’t have the strength to use magic, he was still hurt, and there was no place for him to take cover once the rubble was pulled away. He still planned to put up a fight against whatever monster was digging him out as a snack. It was time for them to learn how powerful a tonberry’s grudge could be.

 

                A light that felt blinding to eyes adjusted to darkness broke through. The tonberry squinted and held his knife tight.

 

                “I found you, I did,” a familiar voice said.

 

 

 

                It almost didn’t feel real. How could all her friends and classmates be dead? She could still remember their names, their faces, she could still remember them. All Rem wanted to do was shake and yell at them and make them stop playing this joke on her and Machina. They couldn’t be dead, but when she touched them they were cold. When she put her fingers to the side of their throats there was no pulse. When she bent down she could not feel their breath upon her cheeks.

 

                “I’m going to go look for survivors,” Rem said. She didn't want to be here. Not now. Not yet.

 

                “I’ll stay here. I’ll do what I can for them,” Machina said.

 

                “Alright, I’ll be back soon.”

 

                Rem took off, running down the hallways. There were corpses everywhere. Someone, anyone had to be alive. They had some of the finest warriors in the world, it just wasn’t possible that every single one of them could have died.

 

                There, on her left. A door stood ajar. There was a flash of green movement. Rem opened the door fully and stepped into the stairwell, it was an emergency one that was intended for when the teleporters failed. She went to the edge, where only part of the railing was left intact, but probably wouldn't be able to support her if she were to fall into it.

 

                “Hello, is anyone here? It’s Rem. I’m here to help.”

 

                There was no answer, but down at the bottom she could see something darting through a broken off door. Rem ran down the steps, taking them three at a time. She ran through the doorway and jumped over a pile of rubble. She looked left and right down the hallway. The emergency lights struggled to illuminate her surroundings.

 

                There it was again! Rem followed it. It went faster than she thought was possible. If that was a student she had to catch up to them. If it was a monster then she needed to deal with it before it could hurt anyone. She followed it into a room at the end of the hall. It was a study hall.

 

                Lying on the floor was a male student. Rem moved to his side. He was still alive. She summoned up her magical energies and focused them on him. The bleeding slowed as one by one the wounds knit together.

 

It was one person. Just one, but it was still better than no one.

 

                When she was done she let the magical powers slowly dissipate. The magic didn’t feel as strong as it had when she used it before. Did it feel different because she was no longer l’Cie? Was someone jamming the crystals? Did it really matter at this present second?

 

                Why could she smell flowers?

 

                Rem sniffed the air. It was coming from a pile of rubble where a wall had once been. Sitting on top of the rubble was a flower. Rem stood up, stepped around some smashed desks, and approached the wall. She picked up the pink flower and held it to her nose. It had a gentle, sweet scent. She remembered back home from the village. Her mother had loved cactaur blossoms.

 

                Her… mother…

 

                Smiling, laughing, always fussing over her garden. There was a cactaur that liked to hide among the roses and would scamper off whenever Rem got close to it. Her mother would leave treats out for it. It would pay her back by leaving its blossoms in the spring. Her mother always said that it was the best flower since it was a gift.

 

                Why would there be a cactaur blossom in the school’s sub-basement?

 

                Rem looked down and around the rubble. There was a scrap of red fabric, the same shade as the cape she wore on her shoulders. Rem grabbed piece of wall after piece of wall and began throwing them over her shoulder as she dug. It was a small chance, but if there really was someone under the wall then she had to help them.

 

                After a particularly large piece of concrete was pulled away she could see into a little cave. There was a tonberry dressed very similarly to the Class Zero uniform. It was blinking in the dim light and held a knife in its hands.

 

                It was a tonberry. Kurasame’s tonberry.

 

                She didn’t have time to question how she could remember who her teacher was. It wasn’t the time to question why she could remember a little bit about her mother. Right now, she smiled down at the tonberry.

 

                “I found you, I did.”

 

                Rem lifted him up and out of the rubble.


End file.
